Bowdown Woods is a varied nature reserve of 55 acres on the south side of the Kennet Valley. It is pat of the Bowdown and Chamberhouse Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSISI) It is owned and managed by BBOWT.

The reserve stretches for half a mile along a wooded slope dropping down to the River Kennet. The higher ground is dry heathland with birch and oak. Whilst the wetter valleys are dominated by Alder. The woodland contains a variety of trees and shrubs, including oak, ash, field maple, crab apple, birch and hazel.

Baynes Reserve is an ancient woodland and forms part of the Bowdown and ChamberhouseWoods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), 16 hectares in extent. This has been woodland for many centuries, perhaps since the return of trees at the end of the last Ice Age. The site has been coppiced on a modest scale which regluarly opened up the woodland creating diversity.

Both of these sites are good for Greater and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Treecreepers and Willow Tits.

 

© copyright remains with the author mentioned